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Review: Poker Night 2 (iPad)

Certain crossover games seem to come under fire for having decidedly
random characters thrown into sometimes unfitting contexts. If you thought last
year’s Pokémon X Nobunaga or the recent Project X Zone were strange, Telltale
is looking to shock you again by cranking up the weirdness to unparalleled
levels.

If you’ve ever wanted to play a game of poker with Sam of
the Sam & Max series, Ash Williams from Evil Dead, Claptrap from
Borderlands, Brock Samson of Venture Bros., and Portal’s GLaDOS, this is the
game for you. And surely everyone must have pined for this superstar cast,
especially considering these characters originate from television shows,
comics, and movies rather than just video games, right?

I must confess that I have limited experience with the poker
players here. In fact, the only two I have any notable history with are Sam and
GLaDOS (the latter of which is actually the dealer). With that in mind, my
perception of characterization may be inadequate.

Regardless, this is another title that is carried not by the
gameplay itself but by the characters and their interactions. The banter within
the group that unfolds between rounds leads to bountiful occurrences of dry
humour. While some of the jokes mandate an understanding of the character’s
background to fully appreciate them, having all these zany folks in one room
should entertain even the most unapprised gamer.

As an actual poker game, Poker Night 2 is reasonably
competent. There are two variations on offer here, the latter of which
distinguishes the game from the original and possibly justifies the sequel:
Texas Hold ‘em and Omaha. They both function as competently as a video game
adaptation of them should. If you’re a Hold ‘em purist, though, this game will
feel quite exhausting. There’s no way to skip the dialogue and plenty of
slowdown that a more authentic experience would forgo. Of course, why you’d be
searching for such a thing in a game marketed towards fans of various
semi-humorous to comical franchises is beyond me.

Poker Night 2 also does a reasonable job of explaining the
rules to newcomer thanks to a basic text tutorial with the game’s trademark
humour throughout. However, I wager there will still inevitably be that
learning curve that takes a few hours to come to grips with. Considering the lives of your mates around the table, there must be far worse people to learn with though.

There are a few attempts to give the game actual
“challenges”, but I reckon most players will find these efforts negligible. Far
more interesting are the unlockable tables and decorations that seek to imitate
the atmosphere of a particular franchise. For instance, using the Portal theme
will make the room resemble the aesthetics of GLaDOS’ world to the point where
Borderlands’ Claptrap also adopts a chromatic look. They’ll even discuss the
room, making these unlockables worthwhile in prolonging the game’s true purpose
– watching the characters interact.

Speaking of which, the conversations do become redundant at
a point. Though there is a gratuitous amount of dialogue, playing the game
repeatedly will eventually lose some of its appeal as you listen to the same
cheesy lines again. The group is also overtly condescending towards the player.
While charming and humorous initially (particularly when you get called out on
poor moves), it does grow stale when unwarranted and repeated for the umpteenth
time.

It’s worth noting that this game benefits nicely from the large,
touch screen interface of the iPad. Tapping options is both speedier more
intuitive for this type of game than clicking or pressing buttons, perhaps
making this the definitive version compared to its console and PC brethren. Sit
the iPad down on the circular table at the local bar and you’ve got the most
authentic experience possible (provided you have access to six foot tall anthropomorphic
dogs).

Poker Night 2 is not for fans of the card game so much as
those seeking absurdity and a casual experience to augment it. Those versed in
the lore of each series represented here will likely extract the most
enjoyment, but the success of the character relations should be adequate for
the uninformed to appreciate the game’s tone.

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